LEGO Mario Character Packs Series 5 is a disappointing preview of the future of LEGO Collectible Minifigures

August 12, 2022 | 75

Earlier this month, LEGO Mario Character Packs Series 5 went on sale worldwide, and with it, a brand new boxed packaging, as well as a small price increase.

I’ve been a casual fan of LEGO Mario, nabbing sets when they go on clearance or when there are characters that catch my eye, but have always liked the Mario Character Packs, as they are small LEGO Minifigure-esque sets featuring notable in-game Mario enemies.

Series 5 flips the script, and sees LEGO moving the format from 10-character sets, to 8-character complete sets, as well as introduces slightly larger and detailed models, but the big change is the shift from plastic blind bags to these small boxes.

There’s a lot to take in, but the most notable change is that you can no longer “feel” the contents of each bag to try and get the character you want, which to me, offers a glimpse of what’s to come when LEGO Collectible Minifigures also transition to more sustainable, but un-feelable packaging in September 2023.

In case you missed it, LEGO have announced that they will be transitioning LEGO Minifigure Blind Bags to these cardboard packaging in September 2023. The response from you guys was predictably negative, which I too share the disappointment in the loss of being able to feel the bags to get characters I want.

Anyway, back to my story – I saw Mario Character Packs Series 5 at my local Kmart (for AU$9 – ouch!) and there were a few characters I want, namely both the red and yellow Yoshi, maybe the Hammer Bro, and the Blue Shy Guy.

As they were neatly arranged outside of the boxes, I couldn’t reliably pinpoint the character I want so I decided to try my luck (read: gamble) to see if I would get what I wanted.

4 in 8 isn’t completely terrible odds, right?

Well, I popped open my bag, and out popped the bags, and the orange bricks immediately told me that I had gotten a Waddlewing from New Super Mario Bros U.

So first reaction? Disappointment. It wasn’t what I wanted, and I just felt like I had wasted 9 bucks on this gambit. I had 4 characters which I wouldn’t mind getting, so it was a 50-50 chance at success, but this was still quite a disappointing endeavour.

Anyway, here’s a look at the Waddlewing that I got. It’s quite a neat build at the very least, with a much larger base, and I was also happy to get these new-ish vine pieces, and a cloud plate.

The Waddlewing’s face is painted on, and the build was pretty fun – I like the confident and cute expression, but would’ve liked it to look fatter. A curved protruding tummy would’ve been nice.

As you can see the price bump isn’t completely unjustified as you get a lot more stuff (compared to Series 4’s Freezie) and it does look more substantial.

But at the end of the day, it felt like I wasted 9 dollars, and in all honesty, it was a very poor experience that deters me from “trying my luck” again.

As an impulse buy at the store, I do like to occasionally pick out and feel for characters I want in LEGO blind bags, but to not have this option again (what if I want an army of yellow and red Yoshi?) puts a dampener on things.

Ultimately, this entire experience was a window into what it’s going to be like next year, when LEGO moves the Collectible Minifigures into these boxes, unless they somehow listen to consumer feedback and implement a subtle way to tell what’s inside the box.

This feels like its encouraging an element of gambling, which I don’t believe is compatible with LEGO’s values, especially as these are aimed at kids. It also makes people more likely to buy more and more to get the characters they want, which encourages waste.

So yeah, not a great experience, as I just spent AU$9 to get something I didn’t really want.

Of course, the smart thing to do is to buy a complete set from resellers, something that would set me back at AU$80 per complete set, but what if I don’t want to spend 80 dollars, and just want a select few characters?

Have you bought any of the new Mario Character Packs Series 5? What do you think of the experience?

To get the latest LEGO news and LEGO Reviews straight in your inbox, subscribe via email, or you can also follow on Google News, or socials on Facebook, Instagram (@jayong28), Twitter or subscribe to the Jay’s Brick Blog Youtube channel.